Under a constitutional government well established and righteously administered, there are boundless possibilities for the material, intellectual, political, and moral advance of the empire, so long regarded as decadent. This can be accomplished only by tireless labors and great sacrifices upon the part of those who bear the responsibility. But it can be done if all national and traditional differences are buried, in the one patriotic purpose to restore the country to something of its former power and glory, and to weld the masses of its divergent population into a homogeneous nation.

It is to be sincerely hoped that the European Powers will not interfere with this endeavor upon the part of the people of Turkey to establish for themselves a safe and just government. They have the right to a free hand in working out the problem of government for themselves, so long as they do not plunge the country into anarchy.

There has never been a time when Western peoples have had a greater opportunity to aid materially in making stable the new order of things in the Ottoman empire. Under the Constitution, with compulsory education and a free press, Turkey will require aid from without in organizing and establishing schools all over the country, and in the preparation of a literature of the widest range. These needs are at once apparent. The colleges in the country should be immediately enlarged and strengthened that they may be able to meet the demands that will be made upon them. The entire country is in need of normal schools to train teachers for educational institutions of the preparatory grades. Turkey needs and deserves the sympathy and cooperation of other nations, not by way of interference, but by way of fraternal assistance and genuine help to the full realization of all the benefits of a representative and a constitutional government. The motto which seems to have been adopted by common consent is, “Liberty, Justice, Equality and Fraternity.” Every friend of constitutional government can sympathetically join with the people of Turkey in their honest endeavor to establish a new order for themselves upon these four corner-stones as their basis of union and mutual well-being.


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